Mirion wrote:As per ger2's suggestion I have tried Draftsight as a replacement for AutoCAD. I thought I had looked at it a year ago but I tried it again and I really like it. The free version does everything I need and it looks a lot like alike. A few slightly different icons but same functionality, it won't take long at all to adapt......thanks
I would still take the time to learn how to use the drawing tools within the Vectric software, even if it is slow time starting with simple jobs which is what I am attempting to do.
Using the Vectric software to create your drawing will generally give you cleaner vectors than those imported from other software especially DXF which seems to have a lot of different variations between different software packages
A lot of good advice given here and yes getting good vectors to work with when tracing for me has always been a tedious and time consuming job. For mos things I want to trace it will require me importing the image and then manually tracing over the image with the drawing tools to create good vectors to cut parts with. Even after getting some fairly good vectors I find it even takes using the node editing tools to go in and "zoom trouble areas" and edit them as needed so there are no breaks, loops etc in the vectors or problems with the nodes. Once you become fairly comfortable with the drawing tools and the interface you will get gradually faster at the process and it may become a task not so intimidating but for sure it is no "quick' task and it requires patience to realize how useful all this work can be. Also even when you have excellent images to trace you will not be so reluctant to use the node editing and drawing tools to touch up those decent traces and make them excellent.
I hope something I have added might help someone and I am always willing to try and help but have not been as prominent here on the forum for some time.
I've attached a trace of the US capitol building I've been working on for some time off and on for reference of manual tracing small scale images. It is not finished and still has some work to be edited etc but this is probably the smallest image i have traced and it all had to be done manually and using the drawing tools to actually redo the very small features.
martin54 wrote:
I would still take the time to learn how to use the drawing tools within the Vectric software, even if it is slow time starting with simple jobs which is what I am attempting to do.
Using the Vectric software to create your drawing will generally give you cleaner vectors than those imported from other software especially DXF which seems to have a lot of different variations between different software packages
If you are familiar with other software, and it's capable of producing good quality drawings (vectors), then by all means use it.
I do all of my drawing in AutoCAD, because I'm faster with it, and it's far more powerful (has a lot more drawing tools).
The two exceptions are text, and Bezier curves, which Are better handled in Aspire or V Carve Pro. Use the tool that works the best, for any given job.
martin54 wrote:
I would still take the time to learn how to use the drawing tools within the Vectric software, even if it is slow time starting with simple jobs which is what I am attempting to do.
Using the Vectric software to create your drawing will generally give you cleaner vectors than those imported from other software especially DXF which seems to have a lot of different variations between different software packages
If you are familiar with other software, and it's capable of producing good quality drawings (vectors), then by all means use it.
I do all of my drawing in AutoCAD, because I'm faster with it, and it's far more powerful (has a lot more drawing tools).
The two exceptions are text, and Bezier curves, which Are better handled in Aspire or V Carve Pro. Use the tool that works the best, for any given job.
You forgot to quote this bit
I have to hold my hand up & confess to not being the best when it comes to using the drawing tools within the Vectric software, having used the same signmaking software for many years I am very familiar with the way it works, for easy stuff I use the vectric software but for more complex drawing I still revert to what I know best
Before committing to tracing I would use an image editing program to fill the outer areas with black or the same color as the hand traced lines. Then try the Trace Bitmap tool. You might get a good enough trace which you can edit to usable with Vector Validator. It shouldn’t take long to try and maybe will work if your hand tracing is good.
